Amazingly, it does not even have to be all that complicated. Sure, you will be editing and creating, but in many ways, audio can be pretty straightforward. The key is finding a program that you can learn and work with. The problem is finding a program that you can learn and work with that does not take a good chunk of change out of your bank account. Fortunately for us, there are many options, including some that are free.
One stands above the rest
If you are looking for a free audio editing program, your search should probably start and end with Audacity. Just one spin through it and if you are familiar with audio editing apps at all, you will feel like this one is worth a good bit of money. Because really, there is not an option or feature you won’t have. Part of what makes Audacity great is that it will allow you to do pretty much anything you could ever want or need with audio. Just recording something? It can do that. Need to edit, combine or enhance some sound? No problem. Audacity gives you the ability to record live audio or computer playback, while also providing the ability to work with a variety of different audio files including MP3, WAV, FLAC, MP2, AIFF or Ogg Vorbis. You can also take on AC3, M4A and others with optional libraries.
It helps that it’s simple to use
No doubt editing of any kind can be a bit intimidating, and audio is no different. With as many features as Audacity provides you’d figure it to be fairly complicated, yet, one of the best parts about the app is that it does not take much to be able to accomplish at least the most basic tasks. Plus, if you are looking for more advanced tools, they are not difficult to find or understand. Audacity allows you to work with a variety of different audio file formats, giving you the option to adjust them with multi-track editing, labeling, syncing, smooth fading and so many other ways.
In summary
Audio editing certainly is not for everyone. It is a very specialized thing, and unless you have your own podcast or have the kind of job that requires you to work with sound, you may not need a program like Audacity. But if you do need to edit audio or are interested in playing around with the idea, it is easily one of the best apps you can possibly find. You can download it for Windows, IOS or Linux by clicking on the corresponding blue boxes below.
